Convertible cot



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheen 1 L. BANKS.

CONVERTIBLE GOT. No. 358,528. Patented Mar. 1, 1887.

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L. BANKS.

I CONVERTIBLE GOT. V No. 358,528. Patented Mar. 1, 1 887,

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Urrnn STATES Y A'TET OF ICE.

'LYMAN BANKS, OF MUSOATINE, IOWA.

CONVERTIBLE COT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 358,528, dated March 1, 1887.

Application filed August 24, 1886. Serial No. 211,775. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYMAN BANKS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Muscatine, county of Muscatine, and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Convertible Cots, Seats, and Hammocks and the Compact Foldingof the Same, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention consists of a cross-legged cot constructed to be readily converted into either a cot, a seat, or a hammock, and to be compactly folded together for storage or transportation, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top View of the device adjusted for use as a cot, with portions of the canvas removed. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the cot. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the device adjusted for use as a seat. Fig. 4 is an end view of the device folded for use as a hammock. Fig. 5 is a side view showing the device folded together for storage or transportation. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a locking-clip detached. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the hingeplate detached.

A Adesignate the rails of the cot, provided near each end with the mortises a, extending through the rails. The mortises in the rail A are about two inches farther from the end of the rail than the mortisesin the other rail, for the obvious purpose of placing the mortises in range with their respective supporting legs.

BB designate the cross-legs, provided with the tenons 0, made to fit tightly in the mortises, so that some pressure and force will be required to insert the tenons in and remove them from the mortises.

O designates the canvas or other suitable flexible covering of the cot, attached to the rails in the usual manner.

D designates bars having holes 0 near the ends and pivoted to the cross-legs, forming a hinge-connection for each pair of legs. This bar should be of such length as to allow a space of about four inches between the holes. The hinged bars are pivoted at one end to the legs B, at d, about seventeen inches from the tenon ends of these legs, and the other ends of the bars are pivoted to legs B, at 0, about eighteen inches from the tenon end of these legs.

E designates an adjustable metallic clip, made to fit and slide freely over the upper portion of the legs B. One end of this clip is provided with a recess, a, lugs 11, and a triangular extension, f, which extension has formed on it or is provided with a pin, Ii, at right angles to the face of the extension, and when in use the pin is parallel with the line of legs B. The recess a in the clip is made the'required size to readily slide over the hinge-bar D when it is placed parallel with the leg B, and thelugs b are constructed to form bearings against the edges of the bar for supporting it firmly in position.

F designates braces for holding the legs in position. It is evident that these braces may be constructed of rods having eyes at their ends, or they may be made of flat barshaving holes near their ends. One end of each of these braces is pivoted to a rail, and the other ends of the braces are pivoted to the legs, as shown. The precise length of these braces and position of the pivots by which they are attached to the rails and legs are not essential, provided the pivotal points be so located that when the tenons are inserted in the mortises the legs will be held. at right angles to the rails, and when the tenons are withdrawn and the legs are folded parallel with the rails the tenons on the legs will not project beyond the ends of the rails.

The braces which I use at present are about fourteen inches long, and their upper ends are pivoted to the rails about eleven inches from the inner ends of the mortises, and their lower ends are pivoted to thelegs aboutseven inches below the tenons. The sizes and ineasure inents stated are merely approximate, and may be varied to suit different sizes and shapes of cots. To adjust the device in position for use as a cot, by raising the rail A the hinge-bars D are placed parallel with the legs B and the clips by their own gravity slide downward over the legs and plates, firmly holding the plates in position and allowing the legs to assume the relative positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

To convert the device from a cot to a seat, the clips are moved upward, releasing the hinge-plates, and the upper ends of these plates, pivoted to legs B, are turned downward, and the pins h, being parallel with the legs B, are inserted into the holes 0 in the legs B, thus locking the legs in the relative positions shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

To convert the seat into a hammock, the clips are moved upward on the legs B, so as to release the pins h from the holes in thelegs B, and the rails are opened out, placing the legs nearly parallel to each other, and the lower sides of the rails are placed near the lower portions of the legs, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

In using the device as ahammock, it is suspended upon cords (not shown) extended under or attached, in any suitable manner, to

the outer portions of the-legs.

To fold up the device in position to be stored or transported, the rails are closed together and the tenons on the legs are withdrawn from the mortises in the rails, and the legs are then folded against the rails, the braces F acting as hinged connections between thelegs and rails and holding the legs in position longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

I am aware that in folding cots braces have been pivoted to the rails and legs in such a manner as to hold them in place when the cot is in use, and to allow the legs to be folded parallel with the rails and hold the legs in place with the rails when thus folded together,

and I do not claim such braces, broadly; but

I claim as my invention 1. In a convertible cot, seat, and hammock, the combination, with the rails A A and the cross-legs B B, having pivotal connection with each other and adjustably connected with the rails, of the braces F, pivoted to the rails and legs in the positions and for the purposes substantially as set forth.

2. In a convertible cot, seat, and hammock, the combination, with the rails A A and the cross-legs B B, adj ustably connected with the rails, of the hinge-bar D, pivoted to the legs, and the adjustable locking-clip E, constructed to lock the legs in their relative positions, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LYMAN BANKS.

WVitnesses:

FRANK W. BUFFUM, P. W. FRANCIS. 

